The Family That Lived

¹³|ɪɴᴛᴇʀʀᴏɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ

"Ask away Potter," Malfoy announced taking a swig from the small vile, almost emptying all its content. The action had a certain flair to it that Harry has long associated with everything Malfoy does. Admittedly, it has always reminded him a little of Sirius.

Questions filled Harry's mind, but simultaneously he was also blank. 

"Why do you hate me? I believe i understand it was rude of me to not accept your friendship but i didn't realise it would have led to this much hostility."

Draco was a little taken aback, leave it to the saviour of wizards to start off this bluntly.

Nevertheless Malfoy started talking almost instantly.

"Lucius Malfoy, you know my father. You've met him right? There's a pureblood pride we all carry but for him he wanted me to rule, to stand out, to be the best amongst all of death eater's children."

The usual sneer Malfoy wore was replaced by an uncomfortable vulnerability.

"He wasn't pleased when he heard you had rejected my friendship. That the entire school had witnessed it. So i humiliated you, tried to prove to all other slytherin kids that you were beneath me. I know all the word eventually went back to my father."

Harry thinks he understands the underlying need to please your parents. Just because he was blessed with a supportive family, everybody didn't have that comfort in their lives.

He chose to not say anything though. After all, Malfoy wasn't the kind of person who would accept empathy. He'd probably mistake it for pity.

"Was your offer for friendship at first real? Or was it forced by your father?"

Draco then had a small smile playing at the edge of his mouth.

"It was real Potter, believe it or not I don't think you're the worst person in the world."

Harry was about to smirk but Draco kept going.

"I have always been blinded by my family's beliefs, by the expectations placed upon me. But that's not an excuse to treat people the way i've treated them. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I thought being your friend would change the direction of my life."

"I thought that maybe if we were friends we could end the differences between our... family and their believes. It was selfish and now that i think of it, probably impractical. But you were brave and unwaveringly loyal, I wanted that in my life."

Harry felt the air slowly knocking out of him. Had Draco really felt that intensely? Had things gone right, would Draco and him be close?

The raven thinks he should stop now. If all this didn't prove Malfoy's intentions then what else could.

Although, there was one other question remaining.

"I would totally understand if you don't want to answer this but do you want to follow the path of becoming a death eater?"

Suddenly Draco's father's voice echoed in the blonde's head, demanding loyalty and obedience to the Dark Lord. But Draco's conscience screamed at him, urging him to be brave, be good, to choose different.

"No, I don't want to be a part of this legacy, I don't want to blindly follow the Dark Lord's orders. It's what my family has done, what my father expects."

"I know Malfoy, which is why it'll be hard to turn away from this legacy. Will you be able to fight against your family when the time comes? Stand by what you believe in?"

There was a hesitance clouding the slytherin's eyes but with the serum's effect, all his thoughts were pouring out before he could filter them.

"I want to Potter, I want the Malfoy name to rise above the status of a death eater. The ideology and cruelty associated with the Dark Lord is all wrong. I want to define my own values and priorities, separate from the influence of my family. I want our name to be written differently in history, not on the same page as the man who killed innocents and infants."